Public parks and outdoor attractions often are an important part of urban planning. Yet, apart from pure green space, it’s sometimes a struggle to keep existing attractions relevant and in business.
Streator is a small city in north central Illinois, whose greatest claim to fame is as the birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto. The city holds an annual Pluto-fest in his honor, and Anderson Fields, a 9-hole municipal golf course, has gotten in on the action.
The city erected signs at the nine holes, tying each to a planet. In addition to the signs, the ninth hole has two tributes to the new dwarf planet. Course manager Eric Isermann says a large boulder is dedicated to Clyde Tombaugh, while rocks in the middle of the fairway represent the countless Trans-Neptunian objects in the Kuiper Belt.
"We purchased some rocks and put them out in the middle of the number 9 fairway. Last year, I painted some rings in front of number 6, right in front of the hole," he says.
Number 6, is Saturn. Its neighbor Jupiter , as befits its status as the largest planet, is a par 5.
Yet Isermann says this is only the most recent renovation to Anderson Fields.
"It’s an old course. It’s been here since 1925, I want to say," he says.
Before the course was even built, the land served as the city’s fairgrounds, featuring attractions and a horse-racing track. A plaque also indicates it was a stopping point for an aviation milestone.
"They just dedicated it in 2011. It’s the 100th anniversary of the first continental flight, and Streator had a part in it," says Carmen Friede, a longtime course employee.
She says a cyclone devastated the fairgrounds in 1903, even killing a prized racehorse whose grave remains on the grounds today. However, the new fairground facilities didn’t bring in the same crowds. To keep the space viable, owner Andy Anderson opened a golf course on the space in 1925 and gave it to the city in 1942. There are some displays of this history in the clubhouse.
We’re trying to tell a little story here, just in this area," she says.
Like the former fairgrounds, Anderson Fields saw a mini-disaster in 2009 when the course flooded.
"The greens died. They started in the fall, and they took all of the dead stuff off. They had to resurface every green," Friede says.
Despite having 50 paid members, the course has seen diminishing attendance. In this light, the planetary retheming is a way to bring in new players and raise revenue. Several locals, including Friede, say the course has a unique place in Streator, and they don’t want it to close down.
“I know that a lot of people in Streator are saying we don’t need three courses because there are two other courses within the townships. I think it’d be a shame if they lost it,” she says.
However, Isserman says he’s received some positive response to the changes.
“One lady was saying her father-in-law’s coming to town, and she’s going to bring him out to golf,” he says.
Both Isserman and Friede hope Anderson Fields stays open and in the public consciousness. If it means another reinvention, that’s par for the course.